Transit Manager’s Sudden Departure Raises Concerns

Despite his statements to the contrary, you can lay some of the blame for Transit Director David Dixon’s sudden resignation at the feet of Hamilton City Council.

By all accounts, Dixon is a class act and not prone to pointing accusing fingers at elected officials, but simple logic suggests that Council’s new-found trepidation about LRT had to be a factor in his decision.

It’s a Transit Manager’s dream come true to have the Provincial government commit a billion dollars for an LRT system, including the costs of infrastructure upgrades.

Dixon supported LRT, but he didn’t indulge in the ideological rhetoric that too many LRT advocates have injected into the debate.

He was one of the few pragmatists who said that we needed to work to increase ridership on the current system to make LRT successful.

Too many LRT supporters got a little giddy when they saw the billion dollars and forgot that there’s still a lot of work to be done on the entire system before the first train runs.

I don’t doubt that Dixon did receive ‘ an unsolicited offer'; talented staff are always being sought by other municipalities.

But Council’s waffling on the LRT issue made it easy for him to jump.

Dixon isn’t the first talented manager to leave because of Hamilton Council , and it’s something we should all be concerned about.